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Being pretty handy with a scalpel is something I never thought I’d discover myself to be. I’d had some previous attempts at papercutting which I was quite happy with so when it came to coming up with a wedding present for my beautiful friend Beth and her lovely husband Nick, I thought I would create something personal and hopefully pretty. Nick proposed to Beth halfway up a mountain overlooking a castle, so I used that image along with their initials, the wedding date and clinking champagne glasses in my design. I first cut it out on some vintage sheet music.

I liked the embellishment the music added to the design but in the end decided on a vintage map of the town in which they met in order to add another personal layer to their story. And so started my obsession…

I love rescuing old things and giving them a new life and have always been fascinated by maps. Combining this with the great story telling tradition of papercutting (Hans Christian Anderson would fold and cut a sheet of paper as he told a story to unveil a pattern of the characters and images from the story at its denouement) seemed only natural. Scouring charity shops and carboot sales is strangely addictive and I have amassed a stack of maps with stories to tell. Friends and family have been long suffering recipients of handmade presents and so it seems only fair to give them a break and set my sights on pastures new. I’m keeping my ambitions modestly global (ahem) and have set up shop on etsy. Narwhal & Co stocks hand cut papercuts on vintage maps, books and sheet music. Greetings cards and art pieces are being added daily.

My shop name sprang from a Pick Me Up obsession with Narwhals and their magical tusks (another post, I think).